April 8, 2012

Obama mocked Romney this way: "He said that he's 'very supportive' of this new budget, and he even called it 'marvelous' — which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget." Comic pause. "It's a word you don't often hear generally."

This Reuters article takes the position that Obama meant us to think that a man who says "marvelous" is "out of touch" because "marvelous" is "a seemingly out of date" word. Reuters also quotes a polisci prof saying, "It's a word you kind of associate with the upper class, and I think that the intention was to tweak Romney for being wealthy and, you know, sort of brought up in the kinds of circles where they would say ‘marvelous.'"

Wealthy? Old fashioned? My first association, on hearing one man mock another for saying "marvelous," was: Gay. It's an I'm-more-manly move. I heard a smidgeon of homophobia. Perhaps I heard it because, a few days ago, on winning the Wisconsin primary, Romney introduced Ryan, saying: "Congressman Ryan, he's a great leader, wonderful speaker, but he's not gonna take Ann's place." (Ann being, of course, Mitt's wife.) At the time, I quipped: "Combatting the 'bromance' rumors!"

This is just a meme watch. Note that the budget Romney was talking about was Paul Ryan's budget. The alliance of Romney and Ryan is so good that I suspect the Obama campaign will toy with mockery that has a homophobic edge. Let's make their "marriage" seem unseemly. Not so blatantly that they can't deny it. Any homophobia can be disguised within a socially acceptable distaste for the rich. The word "effete" was practically created for this purpose. Do you remember when Vice President Spiro Agnew derided antiwar protesters as "an effete corps of impudent snobs"?

The word "marvelous" — which means "Such as to excite wonder or astonishment (chiefly in a positive sense); wonderful, astonishing, surprising; worthy of admiration" (OED) — is a very old word, going back to c1330: "Þe fift ledde Andalas, A kniȝt of meruailus los he was." (Arthour & Merlin.) The first use with modern spelling — the double L remains current — is from Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan ii. xxvi: "Miracles are Marvellous workes: but that which is marvellous to one, may not be so to another." And I like the D. H. Lawrence: "Their loving grew more mechanical, without the marvellous glamour." (Sons & Lovers xiii. 365.)

By the way, there's also an archaic and regional use of "marvelous," but that is as an adverb. You get things like: "Nancy Clemens... quoted a farmer who had been hurt in a motor accident: ‘No bones broke,’ said he, ‘but I sure was scratched up marvellous.’" (V. Randolph & G. P. Wilson Down in Holler 161.) That seems quite the opposite of effete. It's folksy. I could imagine some politician using that, probably quoting somebody... some farmer.

But Romney uttered "marvelous," the adjective. He was talking about Paul Ryan's budget, and Obama snickered. Am I wrong to hear a tone of homophobia? I Googled "gay men say marvelous." Sorry, to be so crude, but research can be so easy and I got the most marvelous return. It's Noël Coward's "I've Been To A Marvellous Party," in which male homosexuality and excessive wealth are merged marvelously. Listen to the whole thing, but here's the penultimate verse:

I went to a marvellous party we didn't sit down til ten
Y'know young Bobby Carr did a stunt at the bar with a lot of extraordinary men
And then Freda arrived with a turtle which shattered us all to the core
And then the Duchess passed out at a quarter to three
And suddenly Cyril cried 'fiddle-de-de'
And he ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea
I couldn't have liked it more...

I'm just waiting for young Paul Ryan to do a stunt at the bar with a lot of extraordinary men and then for Mitt Romney to suddenly cry "fiddle-de-de" and rip off his trousers and jump in the sea. And then Obama arrives with a turtle...

No. I like your analysis of this and in fact I was thinking when it happened how broad minded Romney was to crack that joke about Ryan not replacing Ann. You could tell it was not scripted and it was a cute thing to say. It shows a mature man who can take such memes as bromance with Ryan in his stride and comment on it appropriately.

Obama on the other hand, not so much. He is cracking gay jokes to make Romney unacceptable. That is homophobia.

"In the Middle West people generally use wonderful and marvellous to describe something pleasant or at least harmless. But it is not the case in the Ozarks. Of a woman who died in childbirth it was said that "she suffered somethin' wonderful." A hillman may speak of a wonderrful big storm that destroyed his property. Nancy Clemens, Springfield, Missouri, quoted a farmer who had been hurt in a motor accident: "No bones broke," said he, "but I sure was scratched up marvellous."

President Uhhh...uhh..Uhhhhh..uuhh of the 57 States, where they speak Austrian and their Supreme Court never overturns duly passed legislation, has no business making fun of other peoples speaking skills.

I suspect the Obama campaign will toy with mockery that has a homophobic edge.

Not a good move on Obama's part. Especially since the story in many parts of the 'internet world' is that Obama is gay and that Michelle is his beard and that Reggie Love is more than just a 'body man'.

Obama and company no doubt thought this was perfect. They could cast a gay slur and have complete deniability based on the rich old fashioned explanation. Having said that, I think you need to give them credit for coming up with a little cute humor and not leaving any fingerprints. Romney does use unusual words sometimes, and he will continue to make those minor missteps. It is fair game for Obama to try to score points on them.

Was that character supposed to be seen as gay... or just South American?

Apparently, the character was based on Fernando Lamas, and, according to Wikipedia:

"n archetypal playboy,[3] after his death, Lamas's image lived on in popular culture via the "Fernando" character developed by Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s. The character was outlandish and exaggerated but reportedly inspired by a remark Crystal heard Lamas utter on The Tonight Show; "It is better to look good than to feel good." This was one of the Fernando character's two catchphrases along with the better-remembered "You look marvelous!" (usually spelled "mahvelous" in this context)"

Kate Moore: Now gentlemen, before anybody does anything uncalled for, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out to you that I am a police officer, and if you touch me with intent to do bodily harm... [fades out as Harry continues inside]

Kate Moore: [... moments later when Harry exits shop, the confrontation is still going on]

Harry Callahan: Having fun, Inspector? If you're through socializing, we do have work to do. [leaves the shop]

Kate Moore: [to herself] Son of a bitch.

[She catches up to Harry]

Kate Moore: Look, Inspector, if you have some sort of objection to the way I handled myself, I wish you'd just say so... I thought I was doing all right.

Congress certainly did not use the word "marvellous" about Mr. Obama's last two budgets. Now if the President could prevail on his Senate majority leader to present a budget proposal suitable for "reconciliation" talks, that would indeed be "marvellous!"

Father John: I'd like to see the credentials, right now. Harry Callahan: If you insist. [slugs suspect out cold and then gets his credentials out] Harry Callahan: Callahan, Inspector. Father John: Well, Callahan... I think you're a disgrace to this city! Kate Moore: [bursts into the church, gun drawn] Okay, nobody move! Harry Callahan: Marvelous.

Another scene, another marvelous.

Kate Moore: [to herself] Son of a bitch. [She catches up to Harry] Kate Moore: Look, Inspector, if you have some sort of objection to the way I handled myself, I wish you'd just say so... I thought I was doing all right. Harry Callahan: [aside to the camera, after getting in] Marvelous.

I remember when Mitt was running for governor in MA, he was mocked for using the word "unbecoming", which he used in describing some of his opponent's behavior. My speculation is that this incident is more of the same.

The tone I hear is one of the "cool kids" making fun of the square who uses big words. I'm not a fan.

he even called it 'marvelous' — which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget

Certainly it's a word you don't hear used to describe Obama's budget, which was voted down 414-0 in the House, nor to describe budgets produced by Obama's allies in the Senate, since they haven't managed that task in several years.

Also, I don't see any homophobia here. Making fun of someone for coming off in a precious manner (and for the record, I don't think Romney is coming off as such and I don't think implying so will be a successful line of attack for Obama) doesn't constitute homophobia.

My interpretation is that Obama was trying to make Romney look like a nerd, i.e., cool guys pick NCAA brackets, they don't go around calling things marvelous. I didn't pick up the gay reference at all.

Ann, you're right. Fernando was definitely a ladies' man, but if memory serves he did preen around in a somewhat effeminate manner. Could be read either as a closeted gay man or as the lithe movements of a latin dancer.

Oh my stars and garters aren't we all just over-analyzing a little regional speech quirk. So a legitimate word that isn't used all that often is used in correct context by a political candidate and we all have vapors. At least, Obama would like us to have vapors. I can tell you as a Westerner who's lived all over the Western states from Oregon and California to Idaho, Utah and now Wyoming it's perfectly normal use and I've heard it many times. Romney probably got it from his parents and grandparents regional use of it.

I hope we get a little more mature about the things we find to carp about the candidates, but I'll bet we don't. We're close to the nadir here, but those with nothing of substance to say will find an even lower point.

Aw, just because Prez Dickweed laughs as someone does not mean anything.

Considering all of Obama's stupid gaffs he has uttered over the last three years he is the one person that should not mock anyone.

Do I have to remind everyone of the '57 states', and the 'Transcontinental Railroad', or his mentioning Hawaii is in Asia, or his Special Olympics joke, or his 'bitter clinger' remarks, or his "Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed." remark (12 people died and the town was not destroyed", or his... Well you get the picture.

Mark my words, once Obama is unelected his name will be banned from speech as it will be considered a derogatory word for blacks.

Saludos, my dahlings, and you know who you are!C'mon, let's mingleSo nice to see youThrow your hips into the airLike Syd Charisse and Fred AstaireLet's crazy romance!Just looking into your eyes, dahlingI can tell that you have the legs of a dancerSo bring those legs, and the rest of your body, over hereAnd be 'Nando's private prancer!Dahling, I've got to tell you somethingAnd I don't say this to everybodyYou look mahvelous. Absolutely mahvelous! (Mahvelous!)You know, my father used to say to me, " 'Nando, don't be a schnook.It's not how you feel, it's how. You. Look!"He was mahvelous!But you, dahling, hmmmm, you look mahvelous!Absolutely mahvelous!And this is from my tongue which is deep inside my bodyIt's better to look good than to feel good.

(Fernando.)Dahlings?(Who's mahvelous?)Try me!(Cyndi Lauper?)Mahvelous!(Tina Turner?)Still mahvelous!(Jayne Meadows?)She's mahvelous!(Grace Jones?)Humongous!(Cher?)Mahvelous!(Shankar?)Mahvelous!(Vanity?)Mahvelous!(Apollonia?)Ditto(Madonna?)Her belly button is absolutely mahvelous!I'm about to lose control - and I think I like it!Oh, look, there's Sting, looking for his last name at the dip!I am what love is all about!I've got American teeth and a Spanish mouth...Please ... hold me while I tango!So, my dear, it's been a blast.You were not my first, you won't be my last. Ciao!I've got to mambo!Nothing lasts forever, dahlingBut it's not the end of the world.When I was fired by ParamountThere was still MGM (MGM!)I love you young people today.With your rock and rollLike that Eddie Van Heflen (Van Halen!)Whatever!When I look into your eyes, dahling,I see the reflection of me!Look at me dancing around in there!I look mahvelous! Absolutely mahvelous! (Wonderful! Mahvelous!)You know dahling, I love dancing.Dancing to me is like standing still.Only faster... you know what I'm saying to you? (Mahvelous! Wonderful!)My dear, do you understand the term 'Full grown midget?'Must be me. (Wonderful! Mahvelous!)There are eight million stories in the naked city, dahlingLet's me two of them.I'm kidding you. I'm a kidder!Let's you and I go back to my private hideaway.You'll put on soft music.I'll put on my Spider-Man pyjamas.And we'll do things I'm going to tell my friends we did anyway! (Mahvelous! Wonderful!)Dahling, I'm worried about the Cabbage Patch kids.I mean, when they grow up, will they be confused that these people are not their real parents?If a train is leaving Chicago at 11:00am in the morning with five thousand pounds of bluefishAnd another train is leaving Phoenix at exactly the same time...And Bert Convy is still hosting 'Tattletales'...

EDH, the Marvelous lyrics are hysterical. Thanks for posting. I'm a Gen Xer, and I was pretty young when I first saw those skits. I love the period references. I'll have to check out some Youtube vids when I get a chance.

I think there are two negative connotations. One is that Romney is a snob - it's very playground - like when a smart kid doesn't use the right phrasing on the playground, he's beat up. The other is gay.

Both of these are meant as an appeal to his non- white base... Look at this overeducated homo. That plays very well in both the Black and Hispanic communities where class envy and homophobia are significant.

“The tone I hear is one of the ‘cool kids’ making fun of the square who uses big words.”

I think that’s exactly right.

And it would be a mistake for Romney to put much effort into fighting that characterization. He should embrace his blandness with the knowledge that the voters likely are ready to choose a competent, pragmatic square over a cool, hipster ideologue.

"Ann, you're right. Fernando was definitely a ladies' man, but if memory serves he did preen around in a somewhat effeminate manner. Could be read either as a closeted gay man or as the lithe movements of a latin dancer."

No she isnt. neiither are you. he was presented as extreemly narcisistic, but most definately a laidies man. Who would be shocked if the woman existed who didnt want him.

The tone I hear is one of the ‘cool kids’ making fun of the square who uses big words.

I think that’s exactly right.

And it would be a mistake for Romney to put much effort into fighting that characterization. He should embrace his blandness with the knowledge that the voters likely are ready to choose a competent, pragmatic square over a cool, hipster ideologue.

Agreed.

Let the Romster present himself as the man who knows all the words (I hope he uses corpsman a lot) and all the facts without needing TOTUS to tell us they speak German in Vienna.

I guess those metro sexuals look marvelous and use marvelous all the time, and I always thought the SNL skits poked fun at the vanity of it all-- In any case, marvelous is not something I would expect from a businessman/politician and just another indication of the etch-a-sketch mind of Mitt.

Ok jackass. If a Leftist Democratic politician is using homophobia to appeal to voters, who do you think he is trying to appeal to? Who is homophobic in the Democratic coalition that might peel away and vote for a Mitt Romney? The squishy center? The average white liberal? Hardly.

You mean like the statement "I think women should pay for their own birth control out of pocket and not make everybody elses insurance more expensive by demanding it be covered, when its just for recreational sex."

That's a non-sexist statement that the entire "War on Women" political propaganda meme distorts into a ban birth control to bash the GOP with.

The actual argument is about being economical, accepting personal responsibility for your body and about equal treatment under the law. It is an argument to NOT be sexist in favor of women when making laws.

How did womens genitals and their desire for recreational sex unimpeded by biology become something that requires other peoples money?

How did it become more important to have no co-pay than someones cancer drugs?

The libs who post here won't even take these idea on.

They just parrot and squawk the latest DNC talking points that polled well with a control group.

My grannies, both of them, who were oppressed by the patriarchy, managed to fund their own genitals and that was even during the depression. So does my mom and my sister and my niece. But, somehow, thats just not possible anymore in America in 2012.

Whenever I read about Obama being a wonderful guy, I'm always reminded of this Karl Rove quote:

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Tyrone at 10;09 offers an excellent exegesis of both the connotation and denotations of the word marvellous.....In the spirit of compromise, I would like to propose that marvellous entered the langauge with Billy Crystal's send up of Fernando Lamas and that the word was given durability by the gay community's picking up on both the word and the send up......At any rate, despite the Eastwood clip, marvellous is not a word that cool guys yse.....Remember when Billy Crystal could credibly mock Hollywood phonies? Now he himself has morphed into one. He's had way too much plastic surgery. Are facial wrinkles such a disgrace in Hollywood?

What I do notice is it seems like every couple of weeks, ever since he came into prominence, Obama makes some snide and overly personal remark putting someone else down. You have to wonder how the people who put Obama on a pedestal last time around are dealing with that. Is anybody going to put up those beatific posters if they think in the back of their mind that the guy's a prick?

it's like how, in the black community, being educated is considered to be 'white' combined with the brand of homophobia portrayed in the movie "idiocracy" where being relatively intelligent, having a decent vocabulary, is 'gay'. what obama is implying, in his middle-finger-on-his-cheek style, is that that white guy, romney, is kinda gay, ain't he ?

In re: Paul Ryan taking the place of his wife, well you know there is the religious angle, Paul's Jewish and he's, just kidding. I think this comes up as a kind of mixed background talk. CNN was broadcasting questions of Romney from the Newspaper Editors' meeting and the second question was about The R's being 18 points down among women in the battleground states. The comment likely reflects that Ryan has been discussed as a potential vice presidential running mate as has a woman (who wouldn't take the place of Romney's wife).

In re: Paul Ryan taking the place of his wife, well you know there is the religious angle, Paul's Jewish and he's, just kidding. I think this comes up as a kind of mixed background talk. CNN was broadcasting questions of Romney from the Newspaper Editors' meeting and the second question was about The R's being 18 points down among women in the battleground states. The comment likely reflects that Ryan has been discussed as a potential vice presidential running mate as has a woman (who wouldn't take the place of Romney's wife).

Yes, Ralph. Seemed to make the joke fit. Aside from the joke which got lost, I think 'the Paul Ryan not replacing his wife' comes up in the background context of both Paul Ryan and a woman being considered for VP running mate. The thought about a woman may be driven by the Republicans being down 18 points among women in the battlegrund states. So the 'real context' is the 'woman being conidered for running mate' 'not replacing Romney's wife' and 'Paul Ryan' gets joked about in the same context because he aslo is bing considered for VP running mate.

Most of the comments have already pointed out obama as a candy ass, mom jean wearing pussy. He's as threatening as Mr.Garrison from South Park. I would imagine obama will try another tact in a few weeks after people get up off the floor laughing.

And was his 57 states a joke? His Transcontinental railroad a joke? His Hawaii is in Asia a joke? Or maybe it was a joke when Obama could not find a word in 'Austrian' language (hint hint.. there is NO Austrian language.)

I I think Reuters is onto something: Marvelous is a word that one would hear only in upper-class circles. This proves that Mitt Romney is out of touch with Real America, because he lacks Barack Obama's common-man authenticity -- an authenticity gained through tough times growing up at the Punahou School, Hawaii (some would say the Western Pacific)'s most expensive and prestigious private academy; Occidental College and Columbia University; and Harvard Law School. Barack's seen some real struggle, yo. I mean, there was that one time when he couldn't score weed and all the seats at the coffeehouse were taken.

Seriously, The Bamster, with his mom jeans and cute little bicycle helmet, and general air of metrosexuality is in no position to mock any male.

That's part of the point, I think. He's preemptively attacking Romney in order to diffuse the charge against him. If he makes the attack first, any later attacks on him on the same grounds make the original charge look more credible.

The success of the strategy depends on Obama actually being credible as a manly he-man (but not in a gay way). I don't think that's going to work, and not because he's a manly he-man in a gay way.

"Marvelous" reminds me first of Billy Crystal's character Fernando on Saturday Night Live ("Dahling, yoo looook mahvelous"). Fernando wore an ascot and was knowledgeable about old Hollywood which could be stereotypically gay or stereotypically rich, or both.

Second, "marvelous" isn't really a richy-rich or gay word, even despite the Fernando association. It's a little old-fashioned for everyday useage but it's a good for low-key sarcasm, verbal punctuation, or just for when "awesome" or your go-to approbation word has become tedious. The fact that Obama hasn't heard the word in association with budgeting should not come as a big surprise given that no one seems to like his budgets, esp. lately.

Third, Obama is now demonizing previously blameless words. Maybe next week he will denounce a letter or a number. "I grind thee under my symbolic bootheel in the name of fairness and political gain."

I long for a President who doesn't feel a burning need to try to be cool all the time and continuously fail. It would be marvelous if he could recognize and play more to his strengths, whatever those are.

" Obama mocked Romney this way: "He said that he's 'very supportive' of this new budget, and he even called it 'marvelous' — which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget." Comic pause. "It's a word you don't often hear generally."

Yeah as you may or may not remember, most people don't worry about the price of Arugula going up at the Whole foods either MR. President. Just sayin'.